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Whitlock 2’nd in
the APC CANUSA Great Canadian 300
One of the hottest days of this
summer found defending and current points leader Don Thompson (#4) on the
pole for the Great Canadian 300. It was Thompson’s 7’th pole in 11 races so
far this season. Dave Whitlock had the #39 Avenue Motors Works / NMT Dodge
on the outside pole. Peter Gibbons (#1) and currently second in points had
his qualifying time disallowed for a car height violation and had to start
at the back of the 35 car field. Whitlock’s team-mate, Mark Dilley qualified
his NTN Bearings Dodge in 7’th spot.
At the drop of the green flag
Whitlock dove deep into turn 1 to the outside of Don Thompson. The pair went
down the back straight door handle to door handle, each determined to lead
not just this first lap, but the most laps, in order to become the first 4
time CASCAR National Champion. Whitlock drove deep into three and as he
cleared Thomson on the high side, Thompson suddenly spun, right in front of
the whole field. While no-one hit Thompson, the field stacked up behind him.
Jeff Lapcevich (#23), Nick Lapcevich (#5), Ted McIntyre (#82) and Steve
Roblee (#28) among others were all involved and all took damage.
Thompson would restart at the back
of the field, joining Peter Gibbons and leaving Whitlock the lone points
contender at the head of the field. Whitlock lead Kerry Micks (#02), Scott
Steckly (#22), DJ Kennington (#17) and local favorite Ron Sheridan (#52) to
the line and jumped out to a sizeable lead. Dilley quickly moved around
Kennington and into the top 5 while Gibbons and Thompson began their climb
to the front.
By lap 13 Whitlock had caught the
back of the field and was on a determined charge to put as many cars as
possible, especially Thompson and Gibbons, a lap down. 2 laps later he had
lapped 4 back markers when Stu Robinson (#3) had some type of mechanical
failure and took Roblee high into turn 1. Neither car hit the wall and the
green stayed out but both cars pitted under green. Roblee, expected by many
to contend, would not return.
At lap 30, Whitlock had lapped up to
25’th position and was only a straightaway behind Gibbons and Thompson in
19’th and 21’st respectively. Micks would periodically close onWhitlock in
traffic but couldn’t do much with the Avenue NMT Dodge. Steckly, in third
had fallen a ½ straighaway behind Micks.
By lap 59 only 19 cars were left on
the lead lap but Whitlock was unable to close the gap to Gibbons and
Thompson. Pete Vanderwyst (#77) spun while going around the outside Jim
Lapcevich (#25) in turn 1 to bring out the second caution of the race.
Gibbons and Thompson had moved to 9’th and 10’th respectively. Dilley was
5’th. No-one pitted from the lead lap and the race went green again on lap
64. Micks looked under Whitlock on lap 66 and again on lap 67 but couldn’t
close the gap. Undaunted, Micks went to the work on the high side, finally
making it work off of the fourth turn and leading lap 75. Micks held the
lead until lap 92 when Jeff Lapcevich (#23) and Josh Wood (#66) spun in
turn 3. Over half the lead lap cars, including Micks, Whitlock, Dilley &
Thompson pitted leaving Sheridan in first and Gibbons in third. JR
Fitzpatrick, Pete Shepherd JR and Brad Graham were also in the top 5 for the
lap 98 restart. Dilley was the first off pit road and restarted 9’th, with
Whitlock in 10’th, just ahead of Thompson and Micks.
Sheridan immediately jumped out to a
huge lead and was 4 seconds ahead of Fitzpatrick by lap 102. Dilley and
Whitlock made quick work of the #93 of Joe Goncalves. As Dilley closed on
the #42 of Sean Stafford, Stafford dove under the much slower car of Nick
Lapcevich. Dilley was committed and had to drive deep into 3 to avoid
hitting the slower car. Lapcevich however spun, nearly taking Dilley and
Whitlock with him. The caution flew again and Gibbons took the opportunity
to pit. Whitlock also pitted for a left front tire, having taken one left
rear on the previous stop. CASCAR rules only allow one two tire stop under
yellow; this strategy left Whitlock with a full set for use later in the
race if needed. Micks was on the same strategy as well.
On the restart, there were 18 cars
on the lead lap.Sheridan led Fitrpatrick, Graham, Sean Dupuis (#7) and
Dilley. Thompson was 6’th, Gibbons was 12’th and Whitlock was 13’th.
Sheridan again jumped out to a huge lead. Thompson got around Dilley but
both were headed to the front when Dilley suddenly slowed on lap 127 and
took the NTN Dodge behind the wall with a broken transmission. Gibbons
appeared to have gotten a bad mix of tires on his stop and was fighting a
tight car at each end of the track. By lap 129 Whitlock was up to 9’th and
closing on Scott Steckly (#22). None of the cars up front had pitted yet and
appeared to have used up most of the Good in their Goodyear Eagle racing
tires. Jim Lapcevich, who spent nearly the entire race in the top 5 was bad
loose off of turn two on lap 135. He saved it but on lap 137 leader Sheridan
blew out his right rear tire on the way into turn one. Goncalves also spun
on the same lap bringing out the yellow.
Thompson pitted, as did Gibbons and
about half the cars on the lead lap. On the restart at lap 144, Brad Graham
and Jim Lapcevich, neither of whom had pitted as yet, led Micks, Steckly and
Whitlock. Ron Van Es (#11), Ron Bouchard (#60), Thompson, Kennington and
Gibbons filled out the top 10. Sheridan, Dupuis, Fitzpatrick, Shepherd and
Goncalves were the only other cars on the lead lap. Deep in the field, the
restart was ugly, with cars bumping and jockeying for position, especially
on the inside line. Things got worse coming down the front straight on lap
145 with a big wreck involving Fitzpatrick, Brad Graham (#55), Marv Wilder
(#44), Shepherd, Ken Forth (#86) and Mike Alguire (#32). While many of the
fans were at a loss to explain exactly what happened, Forth was pretty sure
he knew, throwing his gloves at the #23 of Jeff Lapcevich as he went by
under yellow. Amazingly, none of the safety workers or CASCAR officials on
the scene took control of the situation and allowed the obviously irate
Forth to stand and wait for another shot at Lapcevich. As the field came
around again, Forth hurled his neck restraint straps at the Tim Hortons #23
before finally stomping off to the infield where he had little good to say
about Lapcevich.
TOP |
With considerable damage to the 86
and 44 cars there was a long yellow to clean up the mess. Whitlock pitted
again, this time taking a left rear tire. The Avenue NMT crew also checked
the right side tires, making sure they were tight but opted to save those
last two tires for a possible late race charge. Whitlock restarted in 10’th.
Thompson was 7’th and Gibbons was 12’th. Brad Graham led Jim Lapcevich,
Micks, Steckly and VanEs in the top 5. Lapcevich quickly got under Graham
and Micks follows him through Whilock moved to 7’th by lap 169. Thompson was
also moving forward, taking 3’rd on lap 175 while Gibbons had moved to
10’th. Whitlock had 4 seconds to make up on Beauchamp in 6’th. Before he
caught the MOPAR #60 Thompson had taken the lead and began to pull out to a
sizeable lead. As Beauchamp battled with Brad Graham Whitlock closed
quickly, getting by the MOPAR #69 on the 199’th circuit. Up front, Thompson
was away to a straighaway lead over Micks, who cut a tire on lap 200. Micks
saved the car but spent a number of laps on pit road, ultimately losing 36
laps and relegating Micks to the 17’th position.
Whitlock moved to 4’th, clearing
Graham on the bottom off of turn 4. With Thompson now a half track ahead
Whitlock was driving his heart out to close the gap. Steckly, who had a
mirror full of Whitlock, was by no means laying down. He was working pretty
hard himself on the #25 of Jim Lapcevich, finally getting under him on lap
213. Whitlock followed him through, trapping Lapcevich on the high side and
kept the pressure on Steckly. He looked under Steckly on laps 214 and again
on lap 215, finally clearing the #22 as they dove into turn 3. Whitlock was
now second, but he was still a half lap behind.
Gibbons had gotten the handle back
on his car and had moved to 3’rd, getting around Lapcevich on lap 220 and
Kennington on lap 221. The showdown everyone had expected was right there on
the track in the top 3 but it was going to take a caution to close them up
again on the track. The caution came on lap 241 when VanEs spun out of 4’th
position and ended a fine performance. Whitlock had cut Thompsons lead from
10 seconds to 7 but the caution was welcome anyways. Every car on the lead
lap with the exception of Sheridan pitted. The pit exit was interesting;
Thompson’s crew managed to get their man back in action ahead of Whitlock,
whose Avenue NMT guys busted off another of the fast stops they are known
for but Gibbons had actually stopped so far outside of the box that the
front tire changer was actually over the line at the end of pit road where
they determine who beat who off pit road. CASCAR made what amounts to half a
good call, putting Gibbons behind Thompson and Whitlock but there was no
penalty assessed for pitting the car outside of the box. All of this
happened right under the nose of a CASCAR official in the Gibbons pit.
Ten cars were left on the lead lap
when the green flag flew on lap 249. Sheridan led Thompson, Whitlock,
Gibbons and Dupuis with Jim Lapcevich, Steckly, Shepherd, Kennington and
Beauchamp filling out the top 10. The starter had the black flag in hand but
it was apparently for Beauchamp, whose badly beaten up car was beginning to
shed parts on the speedway. Whitlock immediately went to work on Thompson,
trying the outside in turn 3 on lap 250 and again on 251. He had the
momentum and the line but Sheridan suddenly slipped up the track in front of
Whitlock allowing Thompson to get away and Gibbons to get under Whitlock.
Sheridan had apparently succumbed to the intense heat inside the car and
headed for the pits. Whitlock battled to keep Gibbons behind him but as they
came through 3 and 4 again on lap 252 Whitlock got into the back of
Fitzpatrick as the rookie of the year candidate responded to a black flag
and headed for the pits. The damage to the car was superficial, but Dave’s
shot at the win evaporated right then.
Even winning the race at this point
was not going to be enough to catch Gibbons and Thompson in the title chase
with the pair of them also in the top 3 but Whitlock still wanted the win at
his home track. He got around Thompson on lap 255 and went hard after
Gibbons. He got his nose under Gibbons on 257 but couldn’t get far enough up
the side of him before Gibbons moved down to protect his lead. Whitlock
tried the outside on lap 258 and dove to the bottom to try there again on
the next lap. Clearly faster, Whitlock was unable to move Gibbons out of the
way though and Gibbons held on for the final 35 circuits to take his 5’th
Great Canadian 300. Whitlock had run his tires ragged trying to get under
Gibbons and had to settle for second. Thompson finished 3’rd, Kennington
4’th and Beauchamp was 5’th. Steckly, Dupuis and Jim Lapcevich were the
only other cars on the lead lap at the end. Dave Jacombs and Brad Graham
rounded out the top 10, one lap down.
“We wanted to win this one bad for
Avenue and NMT” said Whitlock after the race, “ but Pete Gibbons and the
Canadian Tire crew were just a tick better today.” The extreme temperatures
took a heavy toll throughout the field and a visibly exhausted Whitlock
concluded with, “We did all we could, on a tough day.” After falling out
early, a cool and well hydrated Dilley was still obviously and
understandably frustrated, “We had a fast car and were headed to the front
when it broke. It’s just bad luck.”
Thompson, by taking the pole position and leading the most laps again this
week, lost only 5 points to Gibbons and now leads by 17. Whitlock is 40
points back of Gibbons heading into the final race of the season. All they
need to do is take the green flag at Kawartha to eliminate Lapcevich’s shot
at a top 3 in the championship but it is still possible for any of these
three veterans to win it all.
(Bart Garner, NTech)
Please
see Greg MacPherson's excellent race
recap for full race results and unofficial point standings. |
